Labor has continued to insist appointing a petrol commissioner could end petrol price "gouging", despite the government saying the plan would achieve nothing.

Labor defends plan for fuel price umpire

Labor has continued to insist appointing a petrol commissioner could end petrol price "gouging", despite government criticism of a plan it says will achieve nothing.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd on Sunday announced the plan to put a "cop on the beat" within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to work full time monitoring petrol prices and investigating alleged price gouging.

But Prime Minister John Howard, who this week will meet ACCC head Graeme Samuel to discuss the government's offer of any new powers it needs to deal with fuel pricing, described Labor's plan as "bureaucratic window-dressing".

"Both parties are trying to avoid the fact that we are being ripped off by the government," RACV spokesman David Cumming told ABC radio.

"We are being ripped off by the tax on the tax and by the very high excise we pay."

But opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said putting a properly-empowered petrol commissioner into the ACCC could make a difference in the price at the bowser.

"It can end price gouging, by highlighting the price gouging and by taking appropriate action," Mr Swan told reporters.

"At the moment, all we get from the ACCC is a Google search which shows a discrepancy between what's going on internationally and what's going on locally.

"But we don't go behind the scenes to see how that came about and whether it was justified."

Mr Swan said the ACCC had been too stretched in recent years to make petrol price gouging a priority.

"And if we're going to make it a priority we should have a petrol commissioner within the ACCC and we should give that person the full power to get to the bottom of allegations of price gouging," he said.